* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Herschel Space Observatory

Blobrana · L

Herschel space telescope finishes mission

Europe's flagship space telescope has stopped working. The billion-euro Herschel observatory has run out of the liquid helium needed to keep its instruments and detectors at their ultra-low functioning temperature.
As a result, the telescope has warmed a few degrees and cannot now see the sky.
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Blobrana · L

Herschel space telescope to go blind

The European Space Agency (Esa) is about to lose the use of one of its flagship satellites.
Since 2009, the billion-euro Herschel telescope has been unravelling the complexities of star birth and galaxy evolution.
But its instruments employ special detectors that need to be chilled to fantastically low temperatures.
The helium refrigerant that does this job will run out in a few weeks and when it does, Herschel will go blind.
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Blobrana · L

Old Telescope May Get New Moon Impact Mission

The European Space Agencys (ESA) Herschel space telescope, due to end its mission observing the infrared universe in March, may be sent on a crash course with the moon next summer to search for water embedded beneath the lunar surface.
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Blobrana · L

Herschel's Final Destination: The Moon?

Herschel will run out of its helium coolant at some point in the first half of 2013, after which the mission will be over. There is much debate about what to do with the spacecraft after that. One suggestion is to fly Herschel into the Moon, creating a fresh impact crater and allowing astronomers to search for further signs of water.
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Blobrana · L

The Herschel Space Observatory was carried into orbit on the 14th May 2009, reaching the second Lagrangian point (L2) of the Earth-Sun system, 1,500,000 kilometres from the Earth, about two months later.
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Herschel tracking water in our Universe

After more than three months of operation of the European Herschel satellite, the symposium "From Atoms to pebbles: Herschel's view of Star and Planet formation", organized jointly by CNES and the IPAG March 20 to 23 in Grenoble, returned to the contributions to the mission in our understanding of the mechanisms of formation of planetary systems. A major discovery is the omnipresence of water in the regions of formation of stars and planets, all of which points to a spatial origin of water on Earth.
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Blobrana · L

Herschel telescope 'in last year'

Herschel, Europe's billion-euro space observatory, has entered what is likely to be its last year of operation.
The telescope studies the formation of stars, and has taken some remarkable pictures since its launch in May 2009.
But its detectors require a constant supply of superfluid helium to keep working, and the store of this coolant has now dropped to less than 100kg.
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Blobrana · L

Lowell astronomer, project team receive precious time with Herschel Space Observatory

The LITTLE THINGS (LT) dwarf-galaxy research team recently received 12.3 hours of priority 1 time with the European Space Agencys (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, a far-infrared instrument. LT co-investigator Dr. Deidre Hunter of Lowell Observatory says this is only the second and last call for proposals on the telescope, as it will soon be decommissioned.
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Blobrana · L

Online Showcase of Herschel Images

The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory carries the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space. During the lifetime of this mission, Herschel will study the infrared sky providing an important - and at times completely new - view of the Universe.
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